MP Govt "wilfully" delaying release of Medha Patkar, case dairy not produced in High Court on time

By A Representative
In what is being interpreted as a deliberate delaying tactic for postponing Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar's release from Dhar jail, the Madhya Pradesh did not produce the case diary regarding her arrest under section 365, kidnapping, on Monday.
In a statement issued soon after the failure to produce the case diary, NBA said, "The office of the Advocate General deliberately misinformed the Kukshi police station to produce the case diary (case No. 9029/17) on August 22, and not on August 21, the day of the hearing."
It added, "Senior advocate Anand Mohan Mathur brought to notice this delay to the court at 10:30 am and requested to proceed with the trial. The Honourable Justice then asked the government lawyer to arrange the case dairy by afternoon and adjourned the hearing till then."
Yet, said NBA, "Till 4 pm, government lawyers didn’t produce the case diary in a clear attempt to delay the hearing in the matter", adding, as per the information it has received, "The hearing of the case has now been rescheduled to August 23."
"This only shows the desperation of the government and every attempt at keeping Patkar in jail", NBA said, insisting, "The governments delaying tactics are not going to dampen the spirit of our struggle. They can delay proceedings but can’t defeat us."
According to NBA, the Madhya Pradesh government has been seeking to delay Patkar's release ever since she was arrested on August 9. "She was jailed after her release from the Indore Bombay Hospital on the same day. Since that day, the administration has wilfully delayed and also imposed a number of false charges against her including that of kidnapping government officials on the seventh day of her indefinite fast."

Demonstration seeking Patkar's release

"Last week, she was produced in the Kukshi court through video conferencing after a day's delay on account of link failure, and she was denied bail. Even today, the government delayed the bail proceedings in the Indore High Court by not producing the case diary", NBA said.
Meanwhile, protests continued across the Narmada valley for the release of Patkar and her colleagues. On August 19, 5,000 people marched to the office of the SDM, Kukshi, and submitted a memorandum detailing about the "illegal arrest" of Patkar, Santu, Vijay, and Dhurji, and asked for their unconditional release immediately.
The march was organised as part of the jail bharo andolan by NBA, challenging what it called "numerous false cases" filed by the Badwani and Dhar police against 2,500 people from different villages. "These are nothing but the intimidation and an attempt at muzzling the dissent and provoking the non-violent struggle of the people", it added.
This was followed by a letter writing campaign to the Prime Minister in the villages of Narmada valley demanding withdrawal of all criminal cases and unconditional release of Patkar and others.
The uniform letter wondered: “Will the lakhs of people be drowned without complete and just rehabilitation in the Narmada valley? Will the lives of lakhs of people be sacrificed to pay the price of development? Will you accept the drowning of lakhs of trees and cattle in independent India?”
Even as parallel demonstrations were held for Patkar's release by several other organizations, including the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, reports say, the arrest of villagers‐activists -- Durji (village Nisarpur), Devandra (village Nisarpur) and Vijay (village Khaparkheda) -- on the basis of charges like ‘attempt to murder’ continued. In the past one week a large number of FIRs have been filed against key NBA activists on these lines.
An online petition has been floated by a Patkar fan, Kamayani M, asking the Madhya Pradesh government to immediately release Patkar and others.

Comments

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter.

Beyond the conflict: Experts outline roadmap for humane street dog solutions

By A Representative In a direct response to the rising polarization surrounding India’s street dog population, a high-level coalition of parliamentarians, legal experts, and civil society leaders gathered in the capital to propose a unified national framework for humane animal management. The emergency deliberations were sparked by a recent Suo Moto judgment that has significantly deepened the divide between animal welfare advocates and those calling for the removal of community dogs, a tension that has recently escalated into reported violence against both animals and their caretakers in states like Telangana.

Search This Blog